Criminology/Criminal Justice (MSc by Research)

Explore a diverse range of research areas, including reducing burglary, hate crime, exploring the mental health of children of prisoners, preventing violent extremism, violence and the night time economy, among others.

Places available (subject to change)

The research degree

A Master's by Research (MSc) allows you to undertake a one year (full-time) research degree. It contains little or no formal taught component. This type of study gives you the chance to explore a research topic over a shorter time than a more in-depth doctoral programme.

Research Master's students choose a specific project to work on and have a greater degree of independence in their work than is the case with a taught Master’s course.

You’ll be expected to work to an approved programme which you will develop in conjunction with your supervisor within the first few months of starting your studies. Whilst undertaking the research project you will also have the opportunity to develop your research skills by taking part in training courses and events.

At the end of the project you write up your findings in the form of a short thesis of around 25,000 words, which will then be examined.

On successful completion, you will be awarded your degree and if you have enjoyed this taste of research you may then decide to apply for the full research doctoral degree (PhD).

Entry requirements

The normal entry requirements for enrolment on a MSc by Research is an upper second honours degree (2.1) from a UK university or a qualification of an equivalent standard, in a discipline appropriate to that of the proposed programme to be followed.

For applicants whose first language or language of instruction is not English you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification (the minimum of IELTS 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent will be considered acceptable).

Further information on international entry requirements and English language entry requirements is available on our international webpages.

Why choose Huddersfield?

There are many reasons to choose the University of Huddersfield and here are just five of them:

We were named University of the Year by Times Higher Education in 2013.

Huddersfield is the only University where 100% of permanent teaching staff are Fellows of the Higher Education Authority.

Our courses have been accredited by 41 professional bodies.

94.6% of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within six months of graduating.

We have world-leading applied research groups in Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities.

What can I research?

There are several research topics available for this degree. See below for full details of individual research areas including an outline of the topics, the supervisor, funding information and eligibility criteria:

Outline

To examine the relationship between perceptions of and experiences of crime and the decision to move house. The study will examine the relationship from the perspective of individual residents/households and at the area level. The research would be informed by the theory and practice of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and would explore whether high levels of residential turnover interrupt the operation of informal social control mechanisms such as guardianship and natural surveillance.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an approach to crime reduction that aims to reduce crime by influencing the design, build and management of the built, and sometimes natural, environment. Research has shown that this approach can be effective in reducing acquisitive crimes such as burglary and vehicle crime. However, there is little evidence to explore its impact upon anti-social behaviour.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Although investigative guidance is available for UK police conducting ‘live’ investigations, it is not currently for those deemed cold or historic cases. It is assumed therefore that investigative decision making is generic and that the same cognitive bias exists. Ongoing research suggests that this is not the case and research is required to explore this further.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Nudge psychology is becoming an increasingly popular approach to reducing various different crime related problems. Further research is needed to examine how it might be applied to other areas of crime reduction.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

To examine criminal justice or social processes, policy and practice which support or hinder the desistance and/or reintegration of sex offenders or other high risk offenders within or through prison and into the community. Proposals may focus on specific aspects of criminal justice work or society, including, but not limited to, the work of resettlement prisons, MAPPA, probation approved premises, the transition from prison to the community, employment and education opportunities, housing and accommodation, social stigma and exclusion, individual or social desistance processes.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Proposals would seek to explore the spatial and/or temporal concentrations of crime in very small units of analysis, including individual addresses or particular types of premises (eg hospitals, airports). Research findings would add to our knowledge of crime generators, attractors and risky facilities.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Crime has been falling since the 1990s, yet none of the causes suggested so far explain a significant proportion of the drop. Students looking to further expand the research on the topic in quantitative manner are welcome.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

This project would examine what emphasis urban designers place on considering crime prevention in the design of new developments. It would explore how urban designers engage with the police in the design of new developments and what they perceive to be synergises and conflicts between the urban design and crime prevention agendas.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Organisational factors may have a key role in the perceptions of safety of workers in risky environments. A workplace’s safety climate can be defined as the degree of commitment to safety demonstrated by the different levels in the organisation including senior-management, supervisors and workers. This study will explore the extent to which management policies and practices around violence prevention influence safety outcomes and the perception of safety in occupations where staff are exposed to the risk of violence.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Applications are welcome for a diverse range of specialist topics and areas of expertise; including reducing burglary, tackling hate crime, exploring the mental health of children of prisoners, preventing violent extremism, violence and the night time economy and the impact of design on levels of crime, among others.

We would especially welcome applications for topics in which the proposed research is in line with the research priorities of the School of Human and Health Sciences.

Research community

The University of Huddersfield has a thriving research community made up of over 1,350 postgraduate research students. We have students studying on a part-time and full-time basis from all over the world with around 43% from overseas and 57% from the UK.

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through undertaking research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills which are current and relevant to your specialist area.

Research support

The University of Huddersfield has an exciting and comprehensive Researcher Skills Development Programme available to all postgraduate researchers. The Researcher Skills Development Programme supports our researchers to broaden their knowledge, allowing them to access tools and skills which can significantly improve employability, whether in academia or industry. It’s important to develop transferable personal and professional skills alongside the research skills and techniques necessary for your postgraduate study and research. The programme is also mapped onto Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework (RDF), allowing researchers at the University of Huddersfield to benefit from Vitae support as well as our own Programme.

We offer skills training through a programme designed to take advantage of technology platforms as well as face-to-face workshops and courses. The University has subscribed to Epigeum, a programme of on-line research training support designed and managed by staff at Imperial College London which will be accessed via UniLearn, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment.

Facilities

Facilities

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Fees and Finance

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes to aspects of a course or how it is delivered. We only make these changes if they are for reasons outside of our control, or where they are for our students' benefit. We will let you know about any such changes as soon as possible. Our regulations set out our procedure which we will follow when we need to make any such changes.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is the principal regulator for the University.